Door-operating mechanism for tilting furnaces



y I. s. MccLlMoN.v DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM FOR TIITING FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED M-AY I0, 1919.

Patented May 3, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

1. s'. MCCLIMONI DooR OPERATING MECHANISMFOR TILTING F'URNACES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY l0, j9l9. 1,376,819..

Patented May 3, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- UNITED STA JAY S. MCCLIMON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

MORGAN COMPANY, 0F CLEVELAND,

AssrcfNoa To THE wnLLMAN-snlivna;

omo, A CORPORATION or omo.

Doon-OPERATING MECHANISM For. T ILTING rUnNAcns.

Application led May 10, 1919. Serial No. 296,165.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAY S.MoCLIMoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State vof Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Door-Operating Mechanism for Tilting Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and eX- act description.

This invention' relates to a door operating mechanism for tilting furnaces such as open hearth or other` f urnaces of the rolling or tilting type, and having one4 or morev mechanically operated doors. Y

The principal object of the invention is to provide a door elevating or operating J mechanism which will not be affected by the Vtilting of the terweight device which by thetiltingy of the furnace, so that it will be possible Yto readily shift Vthe door or doors in anyposition ofthe furnace.

Other objects are to provide door operating mechanism, li ht in weight, small in compass, and simp e in construction.

Still further the inventionaims to provide a door operating mechanism, the main operating parts of which may be positioned at a point such that they will not be ad-v versely affected by the heat of the furnace, and also to provide door shifting mechanism so arranged and operated that it Vmakes possible the installation of a satisfactory coun` will not beafl'ected` furnace.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of con-v struction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth` in the appended claims. Y c

In the accompanying sheets ofdrawings wherein I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is 2L sectional view through a furnace vequipped with'three charging doors and with my improved door operating mechanism; Fig. 2 is a view looking toward the front of the furnace, omitting the power operated mechanism which actuates the lines orcables connected to the doors; and Fig. 3 is a top plan Vview showing merely the front edge of the furnace structure.

In the drawings, 10 represents aV furnace of the type with whichmy invention has utility, theV furnace here shown being, by way of example, Van open hearthfurnace.y

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1921.

It is in this instance provided with a pour l i ing spout 11 on the rear side, and with a series of charging doors 12, in thisV case, three in number, (see particularly Fig. 2)v on the front side. The number of charging doors may, however, be greater or less than the number shown. 4 The furnace is mounted for tilting movement on two or more stands 13, suitably spaced apart, having flat upper surfaces on which arc-shaped `orhrounded rockers, 14,

secured to the base of the furnace, are adapted to roll when the Afurnace is f tilted by mechanism shown conventionally and indicated by the reference character 15.

The doors 12 slide in frames 16 which are substantially vertical when they furnace is Ain normal position. The doors are adapted to Y be raised and lowered individually by means of three lines or' cables 17, which are attached at 18 to the upper portions of theA doors as shown in Fig. 2, and then extend upwardly in parallel relation to, and around sheaves 19, mounted at the front and on top of the furnace 10. From these sheaves the cables extend laterally. aroundV sheaves 20, mounted in a housing 21, at the top yand laterally of the doors 12 and from these sheavesv 20 the lines or cables extend downwardly to, and varound sheaves 22 coaxially supported at the lower front part of the furnace.` u f i If the lines extended from the sheaves 22 direct tothe line or cable operating devices, it is obvious that .the doors could not`be satisfactorily operated whenthe furnace is tilted, since the sheaves 22 are located a considerable distance from the center line of the rolling base portions 14 of the furnace, and hence haveconsiderable lateral movement y forwardly or rearwardly when thev furnace is tilted. l

To overcome this vobjectionand to provide means whereby the tilting of the, furnace will have practically no effect on the lines connected to the doors, and so that the latter may be operated as readily when the furnace is tilted as when innormal position, n

vI provide beneath'theV furnace on the center c termed the neutral point or axis of the furnace, which is the line having the leastvlateral movement of any point of the furnace for a given amount of rotation. That is to say, when the furnace is beinO tilted its maximum amountfrom normal position, or is tilted back to normal position, the axis of these sheaves 23 is moved laterally, i. c. forwardly or rearwardly a very slight distance only, and this has no adverseeifect at all on the door shifting mechanism.

From the sheaves 23, the lines pass to the operating mechanism proper, which may be of any type or form, and may be located at any distance from the furnaces, so that this mechanism will not be affected by the heat of the furnace. 1n this instance, the lines extend from the sheaves 23 forward invsub- Y stantiallvA a horizontal direction and pass 20 about sheaves 24, located a suitable distance in front of the furnace, then upwardly around-sheaves 25, and then to the mechanism which pulls in the lines to elevate the doors, orV pays them out to allow the doors to be lowered. The particular mechanism shown for this purpose forms no part of the present inventionbut isclaimed in a separate application -filed of even date herewith. Briefly stated, this mechanism includes (see particularlyFig. 3) a horizontal shaft 26,

' driven by a motor 27., and provided along its length with oppositely facing-bevel lfriction disks 28, one pair provided -for each furnace door. These pairs of disks 28 are sleevedtogether, and each pair is splinedto the shaft. The three `pairsinay be shifted lengthwise of the shaft by levers 29, shown most clearly in Fig. 1. Cooperating bevel frictiondisks 30 are arranged one-opposite eachA pair of disks28, and each isdesigned t0 be driven in one direction by one disk 28, and in the oppositedi-rection by the other disk 28. These bevel friction disks 30 are designedfto rotate short shafts which eX- tend at right angles to theshaft 26,V and are connected by worm or other form of gearing. to shafts provided with cranks 31, each crank being located opposite one of the last mentioned sheaves 25, and each having connected to it the end ofone of Vthe door operating lines 17, in the manner clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 8. These cranks in the normal operation of the machine, swing through an arcv of one hundred and eighty degrees, swinging in one direction to raise the doors, and in the reverse direction to closethem. Itv will be understood vthat the.

doors may by this mechanism. be individually raised or lowered with the same .motor Vdriven shaft which may be driven continuously in the same direction, and neednot be reversed.

While vthe mechanismhere shown and .above 4described for operating the lines .17

is preferred, as far as the present invention is concerned, any other suitable mechanism whichanswers the requirements may be used instead. 'V y t will be observed that the sheaves 25 in front of the cranks, and the lower sheaves 211- are spaced apart a farther distance than the sheaves 22 and 23 at the lowerpart vof the furnace, and to permit the lines' to idiverge as shown in Fig. 8, the two outermost lines engage horizontal sheaves 82, shown in Fig. 8. 1 Y A W ith `the arrangement of lines and sheaves shown, 1y am enabled yto very effectively counterbalance the doors, and thisfis` done by means of counterweights 33, one of which will be provided for each line, these counterweights being` supported on counterweight lines 34e, each of whichis attached at (see Fig. 1) to one of the lines. 17 along the,` substantially horizontal portion thereof-extendingwbetween the sheaves 231`and' 24. The counterweight lines 34 pass over sheaves 36 which together with the sheaves 2a are rotatably mounted in suitably spacedrelationship ina frame 37, shown in Figs. land 3.

lWith the'mechanism` above described, and es socially by reason of the arrangement of the lines 17 and sheaves, and particularly by reason of the sheaves 23, located beneath the furnace at or ,substantially atthe center line of the rockingbase portions, any of the doors maybe. operated, z'. c. raised, or Vlowered as. readily when the furnace is tilted as` when in normal position. For this reason my iinproved Vdoor lshifting mechanism has distinct advantage over all of those of which l am 'a-ware, and which have been tried out heretofore', and it has also the further advantage that 'it is economical Vin weight, small in compass, requires no excessively heavy supporting parts on the furnace las have many of the prior devices, and is not adversely affected by the heat of the furnace., p

I aving described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a. tilting furnace having` a door adapted to be raisedl and lowered, and having a base adapted to roll on a support, of a-door shifting mechanism including a line connected to the door and extended beneath the furnace about a inember located at or substantially atfthecenter line of said furnacefbase, substantia-llj,7V

as and for. theA purpose described.

2. The combination vwith a tilting furnace having one or vmore doors to be shifted,pof

carried by and located beneath the furnace. combination with a furnaceof the .tilting type .having one or more doors, door operating mechanism, a line extending from the door-to the .operatingfmechanism, and; support-ing sheaves for the line, one of the ioo izo

CTI

having a door to sheaves being carried by and located beneath the furnace at a point such that it has relatively small lateral movement forwardly or rearwardly when the furnace is tilted.

4. The combination with a tilting furnace be shifted, of a door shifting mechanism including aline connected to the door, and a guide for the line located at the lower part of the furnace.

5. The combination with a tilting furnace having a door to be shifted, a door shifting mechanism and a line extending therefrom to the door, and a guide sheave for the line located at the lower part of the furnace beneath substantially the center thereof.

6. In combination with a tilting furnace having a door to be shifted, of a door shifting mechanism includingl a line attached to the door, and a guide sheave about which the line passes, said sheave being movable with the furnace and located at substantially the point of minimum` lateral movement when the furnace is being tilted.

7. In combination with a furnace of the tilting type having a base adapted to roll over a support, and having one or more doors to be elevated, mechanism for operating the door or doors, vand a line extending from the said mechanism forwardly beneath the furnace around a'sheave carried thereby,

then laterally and upwardly to a furnace door.

8. In combination with a furnace of the tilting type, having one or more doors tobe raised and lowered, door operating mechanism, a line for operating a door, a plurality of sheaves for the line, said line extending from said mechanism to the furnace, around said'sheaves and then to the door, one of said sheaves being carried by the furnace and located below substantially the center line thereof.

9. In combination with a furnace of they,A 'or more doors to having one and lowered, door operating mechanism, a line for operating a door, a plurality of sheaves for the line, said line extending from said mechanism beneath the furnace to one of said sheaves which is carried by and located below substantially the center line of the furnace, then extending from said sheave around other sheaves to the door, and a counterweight connected to the line between said sheave beneath the furnace and said mechanism.

tiltingv type, be raised In'testimony whereof, I hereunto' affix myl signature.

JAY S. MCCLIMON. 

